Detention Slips
by brittaniaangel2.0
Summary: Chiara Vargas doesn't know why she hangs out with the legendary Bad Friends Trio. All it does is get her in trouble. She doesn't know why it's always Kirkland that caught them when they were up to no good. She doesn't know why she gets the way she does with him. Or why her sisters flirting with her friend? What she did know is she hates those detention slips!
1. Chapter 1

"Wait out here Chiara." Antonio told her smiling at her kindly. Antonio's tan hand held onto the bathroom door frame as part of him was already inside. Chiara took her post.

"You're our lookout. Make sure no one comes in." Gilbert said, his red eyes looking at her with playful amusement as he tried to keep a straight face and pretend to be serious.

"Yeah yeah I get it!" the girl shouted in annoyance before the third friend with long blonde hair could put something in. The three friends laughed lightly before entering the boys bathroom.

The auburn haired girl stood outside the door quietly. Why had she even agreed to this? She looked down at her hands and played with the hem of her pink skirt. Those idiots were always up to no good and it seemed one way or another she had been there to tag along in their trouble making. They were setting up some prank to pull. She huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms. For a long time she could only hear the noises from inside the bathroom, no one insight. School had ended quite some time ago, so the building was relatively empty. That was a relief. It seemed like she wouldn't have to encounter anyone. Chiara ran a hand through her rather long hair, sighing. She could hear the boys laughter inside. This was not fair. They were having fun doing whatever inside while she was out here by herself. She huffed and crossed her arms. She looked up and her hazel eyes widened as she saw the president of the disciplinary committee approach her.

…

Arthur was just ready to go home. Till he noticed the 2nd year fidgeting by the boys bathroom. He didn't know her name seeing as she was in the grade below. However he had often seen her with Antonio and his friends. They were known for trouble making so he walked over. The girl had noticed him walking over and looked a bit nervous. As he got closer she straightened up, making sure to furrow her brows and frown. Her hands were in fists at her side, she was trying to look tough and maybe a bit taller.

"May I ask what you're doing here?" He asked once he was right in front of her, crossing his arms. The girl stood her ground however, looking at him defiantly.

"Antonio's taking a really big shi he's got bad diarrhea. I'm only waiting for him because he's my ride home." She said glancing at anything but him.

"Is that so?" He raised a thick eyebrow

She nodded, still not looking at him.

"Well maybe I should go check on him for you." Arthur offered, reaching for the doorknob but she stepped in front of the door. "Is there a problem?" He said looking down into her hazel eyes. Yes she was looking up at him, but he could see that her mind was elsewhere. She wasn't really looking at him.

"The smell!" she suddenly blurted out and light blush crept up her olive skin.

"The smell?"

"It's probably really bad. So you probably shouldn't go in. I I don't mind waiting for him." Now she was looking him in the eye. She was gaining some confidence.

Arthur remained silent for a while, looking at her. She fidgeted under his gaze, pushing herself up against the door. The door swung open. Arthur reached for the younger girl, as she fell backwards. However she fell right into Antonio's arms.

"Antonio..." She said softly, looking up at him in surprise.

Antonio's normally happy green eyes looked at Arthur with annoyance? Or was that anger?

"What were you doing in there? You made this young lady wait an awful long time."

"What's it to you?" He said as the younger girl stood upright. She seemed to gape at him in surprise.

"You were the only one in there I presume."

Antonio was about to open his mouth to reply but then the door opened again and out came Gilbert and Francis was behind him.

Arthur looked down at the girl. Caught them.

"His shit was really bad so his friends went in there to help him." the girl blurted out

"Yes, I have such great friends." Antonio smiled

"You know Arthur school's been over for a while now. We're probably the only ones left and we're leaving now. You should go home." Francis said to him.

The group known throughout Gakuen Academy as the Bad Friends Trio all nodded and then stepped around Arthur. The younger girl didn't move however. Antonio looked back at her with a raised eyebrow at her.

"I-I left something in my locker. I'll meet you guys in the front." She said

Antonio nodded and Arthur watched him and his friends walk out of sight. He turned to see the girl still blocking the door. He crossed his arms and looked down at her expectantly.

"I- I..." She stuttered before muttering a 'dammit' and running her hand through her hair. "Just look, don't go in there."

"Why? Because of the smell. I'm sure I can a janitor to febreeze it."

"N -no!" She blurted out suddenly looking up at him before blushing and shrinking back into herself, averting her eyes. He had to admit she was rather pretty. "I don't really know what they did but they..." she trailed off, trying to choose her words carefully "They set up something and I...I don't want you..." Another deep breath and the blush on her face darkened "... to get caught up in it."

Arthur's green eyes widened in surprise. "Oh," was all he managed

"Well I gotta go now so," She said and Arthur moved out of her way.

...

The next day there was a loud shout of surprise that came from that bathroom. Out came a student covered in white cream from a pie. Arthur just happened to be passing by to see it. Gilbert was laughing his ass off.

"Hey, you did this!" the kid said pushing Gilbert. Gilbert didn't even fall back however.

"Don't be like that. It was joke, a pretty funny one too."

Well he was glad he had actually listened to the 2nd year girl. He thought as he gave both of them detention slips.

...

Arthur walked into the classroom and started working immediately. He noticed that Antonio kept sending him looks. What did he want? After a while Antonio made his way over.

"So what did you and Chiara talk about?" Antonio asked suddenly

"Huh?"

"Chiara, the girl outside the bathroom."

"Oh..." Well finally he knew her name. "What does it matter?" He couldn't see why Antonio would care.

"You seemed to be getting pretty close to her." Antonio crossed his arms. The girl Chiara had herself pressed up against the door and he had gotten pretty close in his attempt to intimidate her. Antonio had gotten the wrong idea. But Antonio didn't really think he would do or say anything like that to her, surely. Though it might've seem that was since she looked very uncomfortable and scared. But that was because she felt guilty right? "She was saying how relieved she was to get away from you."

Arthur felt a pang in his chest. Usually such things wouldn't have bothered him. But he had scared her. He really hadn't meant to. He wasn't even entirely sure why it bothered him. Many students acted the way she did around him.

"But all she said about your conversation was 'I was covering your stupid ass'."

"She was." Arthur stated simply.

Antonio furrowed his brows before walking away.

...

As he walked through the halls he noticed the girl... uh... Chiara.

"Oh please! She can suck my ass for all I care." Chiara said loudly to a girl that looked rather similar to her. She seemed to be completely different from the girl who was stuttering and fidgeting yesterday under his gaze yesterday.

"Ah Chiara..." The other girl said softly. Maybe the two were sisters? The girl who spoke softly hair seemed to be lighter than Chiara's and it was curly while Chiara's was wavy. Her skin was lighter and her eyes were brown, not hazel. They both had a strange curl that stuck out of their hair, defying gravity. The girl wrapped her arms around Chiara.

"H- hey! Let go of me!" She said squirming in the others grip. The girl from yesterday was still in there after all.

"You two should get to class." he suddenly heard himself interject

They both looked up at him, wide eyed.

"Uh...y -yeah." Chiara choked out, embarrassed and finally got the other girl off.

"See you later, Florencia." She waved and once again avoided looking at Arthur before speed walking off.

Florencia waved back, glancing nervously at Arthur before doing the same.

...

Chiara took her seat besides Sakura at the lunch table. She rubbed her temples in annoyance.

" is such a fucking bitch!"

"Oh?" the blonde girl from across the table laughed. "She's really nice."

"Yeah to everyone else but me."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing!"

Everyone at that side of the table stared at her.

"Okay okay but Sadiq was really being a dick!" She said "He kept pestering me. Every time I complained about it she just sighed and ignored me. So then I told the creepy bastard to fuck off and leave me alone. She got all mad at me and kicked me out of the classroom."

"Wow, she really just hates you, doesn't she?" Emma said, her green eyes wide as she thought about the event.

"Well as long as she continues to grade fairly I don't care." Chiara mumbled starting to eat.

"Are you sure Sadiq wasn't just flirting with you?" Sakura piped in

Chiara nearly choked. "Wha t?"

"I think he thinks you're cute."

Chiara had forgotten that Sakura and Sadiq were actually friends.

"Yeah right." Chiara rolled her eyes. Nobody found her cute. Except maybe the idiots in the Bad Friends Trio. But did that even really count?

...

There she was standing guard again. This time outside of a classroom door. She was looking around nervously.

"Will you guys hurry up?" She hissed turning towards the door so her back was to Arthur as he made his way over.

"Almost done..." Gilbert said from inside

"Now what's your excuse?" Arthur asked

Chiara jumped, startled and looked at him in surprise. "I- I..." She began already looking off at something else.

"Antonio can't be taking a shit in this classroom, can he?"

"He's...they..." She looked at the classroom door. "Godammit!

"You know a lady shouldn't say things like that."

She rolled her eyes. "Hell if I care."

"Then you won't mind me going inside."

She stepped in front of the door, pressing herself up against it just like before. Arthur sighed.

"I don't want to have to physically remove you."

"They're just doing homework."

"So why are you out here?"

"T -they get on my nerves ya know."

He sighed. "This is ridiculous."

"Oh shit!" Gilbert said and there was a loud crash.

Sure he had basically let the last one slide. But not this time. He really didn't want to have to do this. The blonde reached for the doorknob. Chiara's hand was already on it, keeping it shut. Her hand was warm. He looked up at her face. She was biting her lip looking nervous and guilty.

"Why are you helping them?"

"What does it matter?" she said trying once again to seem tough and angry

"If you don't like what they're doing then why do you tag along?"

He didn't want to put his hands on her to get her out of the way. But it was his duty to stop the troublemakers and she was very much in the way of that.

"Almost done, Chiara." Antonio called cheerfully.

Chiara looked back at the door and looked like she was going to say "alright" at first. But instead "Finally!" came from her pink lips.

More noises came from behind the door.

"Do you even know what they're doing?"

She blinked at him for a while before she shook her head. He turned the knob, his hand still over hers and tried to push the door open. She used all her strength to keep it shut. But he was stronger and the door was opening up. Till someone from the other side closed it.

"Woah it's a surprise. You're going to have to wait till tomorrow." Gilbert said

Chiara raised an eyebrow. "Wait...what the fuck are you guys doing?"

Arthur looked her up and down. Why did they have to use a girl to guard? There was just no right place to put his hands. He felt wrong just thinking about it. The girl was wearing a long sleeve cropped top and another skirt. A small bit of her stomach peeked out. He couldn't grab her anywhere. It was to risky and he feared her reaction even if it was just her waist. Had they done this on purpose? That was really low.

He felt Chiara's warm hand weasel out of his grip and now his hand touched the cold doorknob.

Why had she done something so stupid? Arthur wondered.

"...hurts..." She mumbled as if to answer his thoughts. He didn't realize he had squeezed her hand. Then she looked up at Arthur's smirking face. "Dammit!"

She grabbed his arm as he swung open the door. She fell back, taking him with her. Her hazel eyes widened. Arthur reached behind her to protect her head from the impact. Chiara hit the ground and he landed on top of her. Why did she have to wear a skirt? He had to wonder as he felt one of his knees between her legs. His arm hurt since she had landed on it. He slowly lifted himself up, looking at the younger girl beneath him. She really was beautiful. Her eyes were gently closed and her lashes were long and dark. Her pink lips were slightly parted. Suddenly her hazel eyes snapped open and looked into his green ones.

Suddenly he heard her shout, "Pervert!" And Arthur felt her shove him off. She got up and scrambled over to Antonio.

"Who knew that Arthur could be so aggressive?" Francis teased. "Can you not contain yourself around beautiful girls?"

Chiara frowned at that, looking a bit disgusted. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea.

"I'm not a pervert. You know it wasn't like that." He shouted and looked around at the classroom. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It looked like they hadn't done anything. "What were you even doing?" A tiny part of him just wanted to change the subject.

"Homework." Francis shrugged

Arthur glared at all of them. Then saw Antonio put his arm around Chiara. She blushed and before she could protest he said "Chiara will you come with us to this restaurant. It would be more fun if you were there."

"Well I guess since you want me to go so bad that I could go." she mumbled not

looking him in the face.

"Yay!" Antonio squeezed the girl into a hug and she blushed more.

Arthur had a strange feeling in his chest. He couldn't identify what the feeling was though as he watched the two.

...

"I can't believe you called the prez a pervert." Gilbert laughed as they waited for their orders to arrive. Usually the students just called Kirkland "the prez" or "president".

It suddenly dawned on her. She had! She put her face in her hands and groaned. The group laughed.

"It was the best thing ever Chiara." Antonio said placing a hand on her back

"Yeah. You're the real MVP." Gilbert gave her a thumbs up. She only knew because she peeked through her fingers.

"Well yeah I should be! After all the shit I do for you guys." she said removing her hands from her face.

"We're very grateful." Francis said

"Damn right." She nodded

They smiled. That's just how she was and they had grown accustomed to it.

Their waiter put the plates of food onto the table. They began eating and chatting respectively. After dinner Antonio walked Chiara home.

"Thank you."

"Huh?" She looked up at the older boy

"For being our look out, for tagging along with our plans and p "

"Oh, whatever." She cut in. She didn't really handle stuff like this well. "If you get my ass in trouble though I'm definitely gonna kill all three of you."

"Guess that's fair." He laughed

...

Chiara walked into Ms. Wilson's class. Sadiq wasn't there yet, thank god. She took her seat with a frown ingrained into her face. Why didn't Ms. Wilson just move one of their seats? Sadiq entered the classroom, a huge smirk on his face. Oh she wanted to smack it off. He went to sit down in his seat next to hers but suddenly the chair fell from underneath him and he was on the ground. So that's what they were doing. They had unscrewed the screws in his seat. Well now Chiara just couldn't keep the smirk off her face now. I mean the look of surprise was just priceless.

Those guys weren't really so bad. Somehow they had found out about Sadiq bothering her. (She had never revealed that bit of information to them herself.) And they had done this to surprise her.

"So you find this funny huh Chiara?" Ms. Wilson snapped

Chiara looked over at her in surprise. "No I..." Well she did a little bit.

"I bet you did this."

"No! I've never even used a wrench in my life!" Chiara shouted which was true.

"Detention!"

Well damn those bastards!

...

"Did you tell Antonio about Sadiq?" Chiara asked Emma at lunch

"Yes. I knew you weren't going to tell him and figured he needed to know."

"What? Why?"

"Because your boyfriend should know about these things." Emma teased

"He's not my boyfriend!" Chiara shouted, blushing.

"Yeah, yeah." Emma waved her hand. "I heard about what happened. I can't believe they did."

"Yeah, but I'm the one who got in trouble."

"Oh, Chiara at least it was only a detention."

Chiara huffed at this.

...

One annoying thing about being in the disciplinary committee was having teachers give you tasks such as now he'd have to watch over the kids in detention.

"There's only one." Ms. Wilson told him "But boy she's a firecracker." she joked before walking off, giving Arthur the key to the room. She had locked that poor girl in the basement. Arthur made his way over to the room quickly and unlocked the door. There alone at a desk sat a very, very angry Chiara.

"What did you do?" he asked. Surely seeing her who were friends were and her colorful vocabulary it didn't surprise him that she was the one sitting here.

She looked over at him. "Nothing! That stupid bitch just hates me!" She shouted in annoyance. "It's all those damn bastards fault. Oh, they owe me big time for this one!" she huffed

"You got in trouble for something those 3 idiots did?"

She glanced up at him again before looking off to the side.

"What did they do yesterday?"

"This guy who's a real big jerk always bothers me in that class. But won't move either of our desks. My friend told Antonio about it. But it was probably Gilbert's idea. Anyways yesterday after school they unscrewed the screws in his seat so that when he sat in it, it would fall apart." She yelled 's name in annoyance. The rest had been said rather calmly though.

Well that would explain why it looked like nothing was different and all the noise they were making.

"And she thought you did it."

"Yeah, as if I'd do something like that! I've never even held a wrench before."

"Screwdriver."

"Huh?"

"You'd need a screwdriver."

"Whatever!"

Arthur laughed. The girl frowned more.

"What are you laughing at?" She asked angrily. She was so different from the stuttering and blushing girl standing guard. Guess she was too angry to rethink what she was saying and who she was saying it to. Perhaps she was too wrapped up in her anger to remember the fear she held for him. He didn't bother with students who cursed anymore. There was just no point. They wouldn't listen or care and too many students did it. Plus he cursed quite a lot himself.

"At you,"

"You son of a- "

The basement window opened. They turned to look at it.

"Chiara we're breaking you out!" Gilbert's pale arms reached down.

"Gil!" She jumped out of the seat.

Well, Arthur could let her go. She hadn't done anything after all. had left. But for some reason he didn't want the girl to go. Chiara ran and jumped grabbing Gilbert's arms. There was a large contrast between her olive skin and his pale skin.

"Hey!"

"See ya!" She said as her albino friend pulled her up.

Not like he could grab her. He turned away as she tried to get out of the window. He didn't want to test where she was wearing shorts under that skirt or not.

"Bye Arthur!" The albino bent down and Arthur turned to see him waving.

He was pushed out of the way. "Chiara didn't do anything so don't worry." Antonio said

"Yeah. Speaking of which I should kill you bastards!"

"Ah but we saved you. Don't be so mean." Arthur could hear Francis pout

"Oh fine!"

"Bye Eyebrows." Francis said

With that he heard their footsteps walk off.

...

The group walked off school grounds,

"Thanks." Chiara mumbled softly

"What?" Francis blinked at her.

"I said thanks." she said a bit louder.

"Huh?" Antonio said

"What did you say?" Gilbert turned to look back at her.

"I SAID THANKS!"

"Aw Chiara!" the three of the said, squeezing her into a group hug.

"Get off!" She squirmed but slowly succumbed to the hug. She made no motion to hug back.

She was happy to be away from Kirkland. She had been a blushing, stuttering mess in front of him. Well she had never been a very good liar. Especially not on the fly. Her stuttering, fidgeting and blushing always gave her away. Plus he was intimidating. He stood close and made sure to look down at her and his striking green eyes would pierce her. Plus he was the fucking disciplinary committee president and her upperclassmen. She was supposed to be respectful to the guy. Well so much for that. She nearly called him a son of a bitch. Surely he thought that she was some delinquent, just as he thought Antonio, Gilbert and Francis were. The three let go of her at last, pulling her thoughts away from Arthur Kirkland.

...

Well the trio hadn't been up anything for quite a while now. That was a bit of a relief. He didn't have to concern himself with their silly antics.

"Hey come on." A masculine voice pleaded

"Get away from me you asshole." a feminine one replied.

Well he knew that voice. Arthur turned the corner to see Sadiq Adnan with his arms on either side of Chiara's head, trapping her. He was learning in, he was much taller than her. Chiara was trying to look annoyed but she was hugging the books in her hand close to her chest, shrinking into herself.

"Didn't you hear her? She said get away from her." Arthur said pushing him back.

Sadiq looked at him then down at the detention slip being given to him.

"Y-Yeah!" Chiara took a step closer to Arthur. "He's the president so fuck off!"

Sadiq frowned and backed away. "Fine, whatever."

"Uhm... thanks." A soft voice said behind him as Sadiq faded away, she was looking down at her shoes.

"If he's harassing you then you should tell an adult."

"I can handle him myself." she said looking at him for once.

"Oh, that's why he had you cornered like that."

"S- shut up!" She said, but rather softly. She really was scared of him. Or at least scared of angering him.

"What if I hadn't come around? Then what?"

"Then I'd deal with him myself!"

Arthur huffed.

"I can manage fine." She held up her first "I'd give him a good one." she said, punching the air to demonstrate. Arthur looked at her thin arm. Yeah she'd definitely give him a good one. He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"You can't always deal with everything on your own."

Chiara paused and looked at him. For a long time they just looked at each other.

"Whatever. W- what do you know anyway?" she suddenly said after a long moment of silence, as if regaining herself. But she clearly regretted it, fearing the reaction of her upperclassman.

She wasn't scared of him. Of course not! She wasn't afraid of anything! He was just kind of intimidating. She had heard some nasty rumors about the guy and didn't want to experience it first hand. The disciplinary committee had been put in place to stop some rowdy gangs that would often fight on school grounds. The disciplinary committee at the time carried handcuffs to stop students like that. However things have mellowed down over the years. So they no longer had to. The committee still had to break up the rare fights that sparked up even if it meant throwing a few punches themselves. But they mostly just punishing kids for running in the hallways and handing out detention slips to unruly students.

Arthur frowned at her. "You know you should really watch yourself. That rash tongue of yours could get you in trouble one day." That is, if it hadn't already.

Some part of him was expecting her to fire something back. She was apparently a firecracker after all and seemed to act that way towards anyone else. But instead he watched as her shoulders hunched and her expression changed. She began playing with a ring on her finger. Chiara had given such a reaction because she knew he was right. But this big mouth of hers was all she had going for her.

"Eat my ass." she said and he watched her cringe as her voice shook.

"Excuse me?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

She gave a high pitched squeak. "I...I..."

"Is he bothering you Chiara? Cause I'll take care of him." Antonio said. They both looked as the curly haired boy came over.

Just like that Chiara was hiding behind the Spaniard. She peeked from behind him a couple times.

"What do you mean take care of me?" Arthur crossed his arms. Trying his best to ignore the feeling of pain. "I'm the one who takes care of trash like you."

"Well you're not very good at it are you?"

"H- hey..." Chiara's voice quietly piped in, looking concerned.

"You're not really trying to pick a fight with me are you? I wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend."

"I'm not his girlfriend!" She put in

And for some reason Arthur felt a bit relieved..? That feeling was quickly squashed as he watched Antonio squeeze the girl's hand.

"With Chiara by my side I won't have to worry about that. I definitely won't be the one who gets embarrassed. It'll be really sad to see the prez beaten up, wouldn't it?

Chiara's my good luck charm. With her support I'll definitely win."

"D -don't say stuff like that." The auburn haired girl said softly and blush on her face.

"Ah but Chiara it's true." He said smiling brightly at the girl then he brought her hand up and gently placed a kiss on it.

"W -what are you doing?" Her face was almost completely red as she pulled her hand away, looking down at the spot that he had kissed.

"No PDA. You guys can do that stuff off campus."

This was a private school after all so things were rather strict here.

Antonio frowned at Arthur.

"I... We aren't...ugh Antonio you idiot!" She shouted, completely flustered.

"Ah, so mean." He laughed

The blonde handed them both detention slips.

"Not fair." He heard the girl mutter.

Antonio looked him dead in the eye as he crumpled the slip up.

"Chiara there's this party..." He began but his green eyes never left Arthur's.

"Antonio..." Chiara hissed as he put the slip in the nearby trash can.

"It's on Saturday. You know Nicole right? She's in my grade."

Chiara nodded.

"Well she invited me."

"She didn't invite me though."

"Yeah but I got a plus one so I want you to come with me."

"Oh, I guess I could."

"Great."

"Antonio you shouldn't have "

Antonio took her slip and threw it out before turning away from Arthur. Hazel eyes looked at the blonde, waiting for a reaction. If Arthur had noticed the scared look deep in her eyes then he surely wouldn't have blown up. He didn't want to scare her further. But god damn that Spanish bastard.

"Antonio." Arthur grabbed onto his shoulder.

Antonio smacked his hand away, giving him a dark look. Chiara had never seen him act like this. She had heard from Gilbert and Francis that he could get pretty scary but she had never seen him like this. He always gave Arthur a frown or dark look.

"Don't get yourself or the girl into deeper trouble."

"Then don't bother me and don't talk to Chiara."

"You know I had to let the last two pranks slide. I even let you take the girl out of detention. But I won't let you keep getting away with doing whatever you want. There are rules to follow and I'm here to make sure people like you follow them."

"People like me, huh?" The brunette raised an eyebrow.

"Guys..."

Both of them ignored her.

"Yes, moronic people like you with no respect for anyone." Arthur said knowing he was pushing the other to the brink. Arthur couldn't be the first one to throw the punch. He could take a few punches and Antonio would get into deep trouble.

"ANTONIO!" She practically screamed as he lifted his arm to punch the Brit.

And the two began to fight.

"Stop it! Don't!" Chiara ran over to try and stop Antonio but strong arms held her back. She looked back to see Gilbert.

"I'll break them up." He said, looking serious for once. Then he pushed her into Francis's direction.

"Come along." Francis said gently putting his hands on her shoulders and leading her away

"Why does Antonio act like that with Arthur?"

"They have a long history. They hate each other. Maybe Antonio will explain it to you one day."

"Antonio's gonna get suspended!" She suddenly realized and turned to run back

Francis held her back. "There's nothing you can do." He told her.

She looked into his blue eyes for a while before letting out a sigh of compliance.

...

Shit! Shit! Shit! Fuck!

Chiara ran to school. Stupid grandpa had let her sleep in just because he didn't want to disturb her. He whined that she looked too cute and he didn't want to bother her. What an idiot! Now she had to make sure she was on time. Usually she walked with Antonio but he had gotten suspended just like she knew he would. She didn't need to be stuck in detention with fucking Kirkland. The Italian ran into the high school building.

"Hey! No running!" She heard someone yell at her, but she didn't have time for this. So she ran even faster.

Damn, that girl could run fast. But Arthur was going to catch up to her.

"Stop!" He shouted. The girl looked back at him and furrowed her eyebrows further before she ran even faster.

She ran into her classroom right before the bell rang. Arthur was standing at the door and handed her a detention slip stating her punishment for running in the halls. What an ass! Did he really follow her just to give her that? Chiara groaned, walking to her seat as she read the punishment. In the back of her mind she wondered what the PDA punishment had been.

...

This was so disgusting! Chiara's punishment had been to scrape the gum off the the bottom of desks. Surely the students who did such a thing should've received this punishment. She did not deserve this. Though she'd be stuck in that basement again if she had been late to class, probably with Kirkland as well. Maybe this punishment wasn't so bad after all?

She groaned as she had to put in more effort to scrape a certain piece of gum off the bottom of the desk, it slowly fell into the bucket that was filled with colorful assortments of chewed gum. If you couldn't run in the halls then there shouldn't be a punishment for being late. Is what Chiara thought at the moment. Why was this private school so strict? She checked all the desks, well that was thankfully the last piece she had to scrape off. Chiara walked to the janitor's closet and got a rag and spray to clean up the desks. She was much too caught up in the business of cleaning to realize she didn't have to do all that.

...

Arthur passed by a classroom and noticed someone still in there. He backtracked and peeked into the classroom. Chiara had her back to him, mopping the floor. There was a red bandanna tied into her hair to keep it out of her face.

"You know you don't have to do that." He said

She yelped in surprise and dropped the mop in her hands. She slowly turned to look at him, a blush of embarrassment on her face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He chuckled walking inside.

She grumbled something but Arthur didn't catch it as she bent down to pick the mop back up.

"You did a nice job." He pointed out

"Of course I did!" She shouted indignantly before continuing to mop, trying to ignore him.

"Why are you mad at me?" He asked after watching her angrily mop for a bit.

"Huh?" She looked up and raised an eyebrow before motioning to the classroom

"Who's fault is this, huh?"

Ah, she was too wrapped up in her emotions to remember her fear of him again.

"Yours. You know the rules."

"I was trying to get to class on time." She huffed before hazel eyes glanced up at him. "Plus now I gotta walk home by myself because of you." She said softly, turning away from him.

"Because your ride's been suspended? Why not ask one of the other two idiots."

"Francis had some date to go to. My sister already left with that stupid potato eater and Gilbert in his car." She grumbled the last bit, looking at something. She had slowly stopped mopping. Her hazel eyes clouded as she was deep in thought.

Potato eater? If that wasn't Gilbert then he wasn't sure who it was. Maybe it was another 2nd year.

"Well I could walk home with you." He heard someone offer before realizing the words had left his mouth.

"Chigi!" She dropped the mop again. She turned to look at him. "I don't w- want...you...don't need..." She took a step back.

"Why are you afraid of me?" He frowned taking a step closer.

"I'm n- not." She took another step back.

"So why do you keep moving back."

"I'm not! I'm just I..." She took a couple more steps backwards.

"You're going to fall." He said reaching forward to grab her.

She squeaked and moved out of his reach, squeaking again as she lost her balance and began to fall back. Arthur caught her however. His hands had grabbed her sides. He hadn't thought about it, just reached out to catch her. Hazel eyes stared into emerald green. They both blinked a couple times. A huge blush spread across Chiara's face.

"I've never seen anyone as clumsy as you."

"Shut up! I'm not."

He let go of her.

After moments of awkward silence and shuffling a voice spoke up. "I- if you want to walk home with me so bad then I guess I won't stop you." Her head was turned to the side and she was blushing a lot. Honestly how could anyone be so cute? Arthur found himself smiling.

...

They walked together in silence. Neither knew what to say to the other. However the silence felt a bit comfortable as well, as if they were just meant to be together like it was almost natural for them. But it was starting to grow awkward as Chiara kept glancing at Arthur and fidgeting.

"Uhm..." She said rather quietly

"Hm?" He looked at her

She looked into his eyes for a second before looking down at her feet.

"Any siblings?" She asked quietly with a shrug

Honestly he had never suspected she'd be the one to start the conversation.

"Uh yes, four siblings. I'm the second youngest."

"Four?"

"Yeah, we're all boys."

"Damn, must be a pain in the ass for your mom."

"I guess. Don't know how she manages, really."

Silence fell upon them again. Chiara was fiddling with her ring.

"That's nice. Who gave it to you?"

Wait a second...that couldn't be a promise ring right? It looked very much like a wedding ring. But she was only in her second year of high school. Chiara had said Antonio wasn't her boyfriend. That couldn't possibly mean he was actually her fiancé right?

"Huh? Oh this?" She looked down at the ring and stopped playing with it. "My grandpa did. It was my mom's wedding ring."

Arthur didn't know why he felt relieved.

"Your moms huh?"

"Yeah, she and my dad passed away when me and my sister were just babies."

"Oh, I'm very sorry to hear."

Chiara shrugged and they stopped, the road parted into different ways. More silence. They just stood for a few more moments.

"Well this is where we part ways." Arthur had said to break the silence, he needed to get home after all.

"Uh...yeah...bye." She waved shyly

They both turned and walked their separate ways.

...

Chiara fiddled with her ring as she walked the rest of the way home. Goddammit why did this have to happen to her? The smile on Kirkland's face and the way his green eyes had softened up when he thought about his mother it was...it was...

No! No! No!

She willed herself not to think it. She must have been going crazy.

Ugh! It had caught her off guard. He normally looked so intimidating. His features were always sharp and angry. But in that moment you could see he truly loved his mother.

Her heart was beating way too fast. She put a hand over her chest. What was happening to her?


	2. Chapter 2

Finally it was Saturday. She'd be able to see Antonio at the party. Chiara would never admit that she had missed him, but she had. She straightened out the red mini dress she wore, inspecting herself in the mirror. This was a party filled with 3rd and 4th years, so she had to look more mature. She put red lipstick on her lips. She didn't know Nicole that well and she was nervous.

"Antonio's here." Florencia called from downstairs.

Chiara carefully walked down stairs to see Antonio smiling at the door.

"Ah, Chiara you look so pretty." He coed.

Chiara blushed, looking down and pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "Sh shut up." she mumbled

After they had walked off the property and onto the sidewalk she asked, "We're not walking there are we?"

She didn't know where Nicole lived but it was probably not close.

"Gilbert's gonna drive us."

Oh, of course. Why has she ever thought for a second that it would be just her and Antonio?

"We can't walk to Gilbert's though." She commented. It was a rather long walk.

Antonio stopped walking and looked down the street. Gilbert pulled up in his white car with Francis in the passenger seat. Gilbert pulled down the sunglasses he wore to reveal his red eyes.

"Get in losers,"

...

When they arrived there were many others already there. The sun was about to set. Antonio and Nicole hugged each other in greeting. Chiara inspected the taller girl. She was rather skinny and tall. Her straight blonde hair was cut into a bob. Her green eyes were bright and she gave Chiara a big smile.

"Come with me sweetie." she winked offering her hand to Chiara which Chiara hesitantly took. They walked around and Chiara looked around at everyone. It seemed she was the youngest here.

"You make sure to drink from this one." Nicole said pointing to the punch bowl on the left.

Chiara just nodded. In all honesty that made her feel like such a baby.

"Anyways, time for something more juicy." She gently put her hands on Chiara's shoulders, leading her away from the punch. "You and Antonio are a pretty cute item. Have you two..." she trailed off "done you know anything really special yet?" she bit her pink lip.

"Wha ..." Were people around school talking about them? It seemed a repeating pattern that people called Antonio her boyfriend or called her, his girlfriend. Was there a rumor going around?"We -we're... not dating."

"Huh?" She wrinkled her nose. "He's always talking about the pretty and/or cute Chiara."

"R- really?" Chiara glanced over at Antonio who was laughing at something.

"Geez. You both like each other so why don't you just make it official already."

A choking sound came from the younger girl. "I- I...wha ..." she couldn't form a sentence and she knew that she was blushing like crazy. She wanted to deny that she liked Antonio but just couldn't.

"Whatever, have fun." with a small wave she disappeared

So shyly Chiara joined the crowd and began dancing. The party was actually rather fun. Chiara had actually made acquaintances with Lukas Bondevik a Norwegian 3rd year boy. Together they had laughed at the drunk kids awful dancing. She had met a few other older students as well and even danced with them.

"Alrighty everyone inside!" Nicole shouted loudly

The large group of teens made their way inside. Nicole had an empty glass bottle of beer in her hands and made them sit in a circle in the basement. She stood in the center.

"It is tradition that this game is played at high school parties. And you're all horny and experimenting teenagers so you LIVE for this shit." She put the bottle down before taking her spot in the circle.

Chiara looked at the glass bottle nervously. Her stomach did flip flops.

 _Spin the Bottle_

The Italian girl quickly glanced at a certain Spaniard. God she really wanted to squash the feeling of want, of hope that she'd get to kiss him.

"Well, who's going first?"

Chiara watched everyone go, thanking god it hadn't landed on her or Antonio. She didn't know if she could handle seeing him kiss anyone else. Gilbert and Francis kept making kissy faces at her and cooing. She wanted to yell "like hell I'd kiss either of you" but did not want to draw everyone else's attention to herself. Some people pecked each other's lips shyly and some were passionately making out with each other.

"Your turn."

Chiara's head snapped over to Nicole who was smirking at her. Then she looked down at the bottle, slowly reaching for it and giving it a spin. She watched it spin around and around tentatively. She mentally kicked herself when she got disappointed when it passed Antonio.

It stopped.

Chiara's breath hitched. She slowly looked up into smirking red eyes. No way! It had landed on Gilbert. He had the biggest smirk on the face.

"Come on Chi, you know you want to."

Well at least he hadn't said "we've done this before".

Nicole glanced at Antonio just in time to see his expression darken. She raised an eyebrow and couldn't help the amused look on her face. He was so jealous.

Chiara slowly made her over to Gilbert. She tried to ignore everyone's eyes watching her. She tried to ignore how nervous she was. She tried not to look at Antonio. Chiara got really close to his face and inhaled. She had never kissed anyone before. Well she had kissed Gilbert once before but it was an accident and didn't count. This one, this one did count though.

A very light blush coated her cheeks. Chiara cupped Gilbert's his face, squeezing her eyes shut and pressed their lips together. After they had pulled away from each other Nicole let out a whoop. "Who knew the second year was so wild. I didn't think you'd actually do it." she grinned

Chiara let out a breath quickly returning to her original seat. Chiara didn't look at Antonio. She couldn't bring herself to. And so the game continued and she just glanced around or focused on her hands the entire time. Luckily the bottle never landed on her.

...

Chiara answered a text from Rome, lying that she had went home with Emma and was sleeping over at Emma's house. She hadn't realized it had gotten so late honestly. But their grandpa was such a worry wart. She wasn't some little kid anymore.

"Hey let me get you another drink." A female voice said behind her

"Oh yeah yeah thanks." She nodded handing them the cup.

The girl soon returned to her with a full cup. Chiara hadn't even thought for a second that maybe they'd get it from the wrong punch bowl. She just began drinking it. Yes it had tasted a bit different but she just ignored it. She chugged the whole cup.

"Woah," she hiccuped and looked around.

"Wow you were thirsty. Should I get you another one?" She heard the girl laugh

"Y- yeah thanks." She hiccuped again.

And so she drank another. Then she herself went up to the table. Her vision was starting to get hazy. She glared at the two punch bowls. Was it the right or left? She just decided to take a little bit from both. She stumbled indoors putting a hand on the wall. Everything was spinning.

"Oh my god!" Someone got closer to her so she got closer to the wall. "What happened? I said the left bowl!"

Chiara looked into Nicole's green eyes. Her voice seemed so distant. Nicole looked panicked. Chiara wondered why as she hiccuped again.

"Antonio!" Nicole shouted as she grabbed the girl.

Chiara pushed the hands off. "Too hot." She mumbled distancing herself from Nicole.

"Chiara please stay with me." Nicole said gently reaching out her hand to her before turning her head and shouting "Someone get Antonio."

Chiara stumbled away.

"Hey Chi~" Gilbert laughed. She let go off the wall to walk to him. But felt much to dizzy and grabbed his shirt. "Woah you okay?"

"She's drunk." Nicole informed him

"Nu- uh." Chiara said like a child shaking her head. "It's hot." She pouted reaching to pull her dress up.

"Chiara no!" Nicole shouted pulling the red dress back down.

Chiara waved her arms around to keep the two of them at a distance and nearly fell back. Gilbert grabbed her hands and kept her up. A giggle erupted from her lips.

"Weeeeee~" she said making her and Gilbert spin around and around. He forced them to stop however.

"Ugh no don't go in the pool!" Nicole cried at the older kids who were taking off their clothes and jumping in, in only their under garments.

"Pool..." Chiara said before dashing off. She'd always been a fast runner.

"No!" She heard footsteps following her.

Antonio saw Chiara dash for the pool. She wasn't going to jump in with that dress on was she?

"Antonio she's drunk get her!" Nicole shouted and he saw her and Gilbert running to catch up with Chiara.

Oh.

He ran for the pool, trying to reach it before Chiara could.

"Tonio!" Chiara called, she had spotted him. Suddenly she switched courses, running straight at him.

Well that made things much easier. He extended his arms so the young girl could run into them.

"Antonio!" She yelled happily running into his embrace and hugging him.

A part of him wished Chiara was normally like this.

She pulled away from the hug. "Anto -blegh!" She vomited on his shoes.

"Ah!" He slipped out of his sneakers and grabbed her, running for the bathrooms.

He slammed the door open and put Chiara down in front of the toilet where the poor girl continued to vomit. He held her hair back, it was so soft and silky. Chiara didn't let him touch it saying he would mess it up.

"Anton- " she was cut off by more vomiting

"Shh, don't try to speak." He said gently, holding her hair with one hand and gently rubbing her back with the other.

"I'm tired..." She got toilet paper to wipe her mouth.

"I know. Come on." He said and gently helped her to her feet.

He slowly lead the girl out of the bathroom.

"Can we use the guest bedroom?" He asked Nicole to which she nodded.

He stepped into the room and brought the girl towards the bed.

"I've never done this before." She mumbled shyly

"Huh?" He looked into her hazel eyes confused.

She was trying to unzip her dress.

"No! No! Chiara we're not doing that."

"Then what are we doing in here?" Her words were slurred

"I just want you to rest Chiara."

The girl promptly crawled into bed.

"Don't leave me 'ntonio." She whined reaching her hand out for him to hold.

"Don't worry I'm right here." He said going over and squeezing her hand tightly.

After a long while of just staying in comfortable silence, holding each other's hands, Nicole kicked the door open pushing a laughing and obviously drunk Gilbert into the room and dragging a passed out Francis inside.

Antonio got up to help Nicole with Francis and Gilbert jumped onto the bed. Nicole pulled Chiara up.

"I'll let you borrow some pajamas." She said and they went out of the room.

Gilbert's shirt flew off and he quickly fell asleep. Antonio smiled slightly and put his French friend on the edge of the bed.

When Chiara returned she just crawled on top of the bodies sleeping in the bed, paying them no mind, plopped down and quickly fell asleep.

...

Chiara woke up with a groan. Ew oh god her breath smelled. What had happened? She slowly got up to see Francis at the edge of the bed. Huh? She turned to see that she had been laying on top of Gilbert. Oh my god. On the other side of her Antonio was nearly falling off the bed. What had happened last night!?

"CHIGI!" But then she groaned as a killer headache set in.

Francis only shifted in discomfort and annoyance.

"Ugh Chiara it's too early for that." Gilbert grumbled shifting his position as well.

Nicole slowly entered the room. "Hey, you party animals." She said softly turning on the lights.

Chiara and Gilbert both groaned. Francis made a noise of discomfort. Antonio fell off the bed.

"Ay!" He cried

"I got some orange juice for you and painkillers." She said holding up the glasses and painkillers.

"Thank you." Chiara said embarrassed "What happened?"

"You got hammered."

"Huh? Me?" Well she didn't remember a great portion of last night.

"Yeah. I caught the culprit. Someone gave you a drink from the wrong bowl. It wasn't on purpose or anything."

"Did I do something embarrassing?"

"Well you did almost jump in the pool."

Chiara groaned.

"And you threw up on my shoes." Antonio said

"W -well they were ugly anyways. I'll buy you better ones."

Antonio smiled knowing well that this was her way of apologizing.

"Anyways I decided to let you goons crash here since the driver got drunk and the frenchie passed out."

"I did not pass out. I was just very tired and resting my eyes."

"Right." Nicole rolled her green eyes. "Anyways you guys are fun. I'll definitely invite you to parties again."

Chiara smiled slightly.

...

That Monday as she turned and went on her way to class she noticed a certain German sitting under the stairs.

"Gilbert don't tell me you're skipping." She said looking at the boy sitting under the stairs.

"Class is boring." he waved his hand dismissively

"You're going to get in trouble."

"Don't I always?" he smirked

She bit her lip.

"You're going to be late." he stated

"Is something going on?"

Chiara knew he had a strict father. He had complained about his classes and how dull they were to him. But he had never skipped before.

Gilbert shrugged. "Don't worry about Chi, get to class,"

She sat down next to him trying to look defiant. In reality she felt guilty for skipping but she was more worried about her friend.

"Don't just fucking keep things to yourself, jerk. Antonio, Francis and I are your friends."

Gilbert gave a faint smile because he knew that's just how Chiara was. He pulled her into a hug and slowly she hugged back. The bell rang.

"Get to class, kid."

"I'm only a year younger. And I'm already late."

"There's a bigger punishment for skipping."

"Fine. I don't want to get in trouble because of an idiot like you." She said walking away, slowly turning to see the German boy smirking at her. She frowned "Fuck you." She said and speed walked away the next time she risked peeking he was no longer there.

"You should get to class." A voice said behind her and she squeaked.

"W -what about you?" She said backing away from Arthur.

"I have hall duty to catch kids who are late or skipping right now."

He sighed holding out the detention slip to her her. Chiara couldn't bring herself to look directly at him. She had meant to avoid him. She looked at his hand and slowly took the pass, already knowing she'd be in the basement again. There were other members of the disciplinary committee so why did she only see him all the time. She knew Yao Wang was in the committee, she knew Ludwig had planned on joining, as well as someone named Alfred. Yet it was always Kirkland that seemed to catch her.

"Did you go to that party?"

"Huh?" She looked up from the pass to his face before quickly focusing her gaze on something else. " Yeah," she said then eyed him suspiciously as he walked next to her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

She crossed her arms. "'Cause you're chatting me up like we're friends or something."

"Well honestly "

"Florencia..."

Chiara quickly dashed to the corner and peeked to see her sister with her friend Sakura. Florencia was clinging to the blushing Japanese girl who had her head turned away so that Chiara only say the back of her silky black bob.

"Aw Sakura you're so cute."

"We have to get to the library." Sakura mumbled softly, looking anywhere but at Florencia

As Arthur was about to make his way over to interrupt the encounter because that was clearly PDA, Chiara put her hand on his chest. Arthur looked down at her curiously, but silently stood behind her also watching. This was her sister so of course Chiara would want to see what's happening.

"I know, silly. But you have to agree to get gelato with me after school. Just the two of us, okay?" Florencia said in a whiny tone swinging their interlocking hands.

"This whole time I thought she had a thing for Ludwig." Chiara mumbled out loud.

Ludwig? As in Gilbert's little brother? Ludwig was completely different from his brother or rather it seemed that way if you didn't know Gilbert that well.

The two girls began walking to class. When Sakura was calmly walking while her Italian companion was skipping, happily humming to herself, their fingers interlocked.

"You're really late to class. Aren't you worried?"

Chiara jumped at the sound of Arthur's voice.

"N- no, I have orchestra right now." She felt rather bad for being so late. She did love the teacher and the class very much.

"You'll end up with a bigger punishment for skipping. So even if you don't care about missing the class you should go."

"I do ca- " She stopped. She didn't have to explain that she did care for the class very much. Plus it would lead to revealing why she was late which was Gilbert.

"Whatever. I'm going."

"See you after school." he teased

"Ugh,"

She couldn't believe her sister was totally flirting with one of her best friends, granted Sakura was also Florencia's friend. Most likely Sakura was better friends with Florencia then Chiara. Sakura, Florencia and Ludwig were a trio that hung out quite often. Chiara personally hated being lumped in with the Bad Friends Trio though she had been spending a lot of time with them recently. She would prefer to say that her squad consisted of Abel a dutch boy in his fourth year, his younger sister Emma and Antonio. However the group didn't hang out often. Antonio believed that Abel greatly disliked him and it was honestly hard to tell if that was true or not. She found herself already at the door to the orchestra room. She slowly peeked in, the guilt hitting her hard. Ms. Bonnefoy's blue eyes pierced Chiara above the black frame of her glasses.

"Nice of you to show up Chiara." she said, before continuing to conduct.

That made her feel even worse. She adored Ms. Bonnefoy. Though she did not adore her nephew Francis at all. She was a gorgeous woman, her long dirty blonde hair was always nicely braided and she was always well dressed. She was very smart, rather nice and seemed to play any instrument beautifully. Chiara got her violin, taking her seat, catching on with the rest of the orchestra with ease.

...

Chiara sat in the basement, tapping her fingers on the desk, bored. She was waiting for Kirkland to come in. Once again she had been locked in here and it seemed Gilbert hadn't been caught skipping.

"Oh hey!" A voice that significantly was not Arthur's boomed.

Chiara turned to see a tall, fairly muscular boy with blonde hair, blue eyes and the biggest smile on his face.

"H- hi..."

"I'm Alfred. I just recently joined the committee."

"You're a first year..?"

Now that Chiara saw him she realized she knew who he was. He was another star football player despite being his first year and how he abruptly moved here, Europe from America. However she only knew him as "Jones" seeing as that's what it said on the back of his jersey. It was odd that a first year was not skinny, small and awkward. Instead Alfred was tall and muscular and booming with confidence. His bright energy seemed to radiate off of him.

"Yeah! Guess it's obvious." He laughed rubbing the back of his neck.

Well, not really. But he didn't need to know that.

"What's your name?"

"Chiara."

"Chiara..." The American echoed before asking "What are you in here for Chiara?"

"I was late to class."

She didn't really want to talk to him. His personality put her on edge. She could just sense how outgoing and sociable he was.

"Ah, yeah this school's pretty strict." He laughed again.

Ah, awkward silence. He sat in the seat next to her. Chiara gave him a look, to know she did not enjoy the proximity. He squirmed in her gaze and gave her a nervous smile.

Alfred coughed. "So you're um..."

She tilted her head. He never finished that sentence and his face had gotten pretty red. What an idiot.

"Think before you start speaking." she told him, rolling her eyes.

"Heh, heh okay." he chuckled

More silence fell between them

"You know this school's really different from back home." he said then paused "I'm from America, actually."

She had already known this.

"I've never been to America." she said, not sure if she ever planned on going or not.

"I think it's great there but I'm biased." he laughed

"I'm from Italy. Have you been? It's beautiful there."

"Nah, I'd like to go though."

And so the two peacefully chatted, describing their home countries to one another. Alfred noticed that Chiara was actually rather shy. He could tell by her motions, how her eyes usually averted looking at him, her small blushes, how she seemed to try and shrink into herself. But he could see the passion, the love in her eyes as she recalled her true home, Italy. It was...beautiful.

...

Arthur had not been the one that was given the task of watching over the kids in detention this time. He vaguely wondered who it was. Well maybe he could walk home with her...

"Antonio, you waited for me?" A familiar voice cut into his thoughts.

Arthur looked up.

"Of course I did."

Arthur could just hear Antonio's smile. He however could only see Chiara from where he was. Which definitely pleased him. Chiara was something very nice to look at.

The Italian turned her head to the side. A blush coated her cheeks and there was a small smile on her face, her happy and hopeful hazel eyes were looking down so she didn't notice Arthur and her hair fell most likely blocking Antonio's view. The sight was gorgeous and only Arthur alone had seen it. But the moment was short lived as Antonio reached to move her hair out of her face.

The girl quickly stepped back, turning her head to him, the smile gone. "What are you doing? Don't mess up my hair!"

"Ah, so mean." The Spaniard chuckled. Arthur couldn't help but grimace.

"Whatever." She scoffed walking past him and out of sight.

...

The two walked side by side in a peaceful silence. Chiara turned her head to look behind them before looking at Antonio.

"I think something's going on with Gilbert." she said after some contemplation

"Don't worry about it Chi..." Antonio said softly

He knew what was going on. She was their friend too. So why weren't they keeping her in the loop?

"I wasn't worried. Why should I be?"

Antonio only smiled making Chiara frown more. She leaned over to push him the tiniest bit. His smile only widened at that however and he did the same. So she pushed harder. And then so did he.

"Who do you think you're pushing around, huh?" She raised an eyebrow, poking him in the side.

"You, of course." he joked and went to poke her back but Chiara jerked out of the way.

Antonio moved closer to try and poke her but once again she slipped out of the way and then quickly reached over to poke him. Antonio looked up only to see the back of her head as she turned. He wanted to see it. He knew she was smiling. The Italian girl was running away, he knew exactly where to. He wanted to see the most beautiful and rare sight. So he chased after her.

He hoped to hear a giggle as they ran onto the lush grass of the park. Chiara's laughter was the most beautiful sound Antonio had ever heard. It beat the sound she made playing the violin. It was even nicer when he knew that he was the reason behind her laughter. But Chiara didn't laugh. She didn't laugh as often as the Spaniard would have liked.

He had finally caught up to her. He reached for her arm and turned her towards him. Finally he'd get to see her smile. Or so he thought.

"Chiara," Her name left his lips as they went tumbling down the small hill into a meadow of daisies.

Antonio had ended up on top of her. They blinked at each other, processing the situation. Antonio tried not to appear disappointed that he had no even seen the smallest smile.

"G- get off, stupid." her face was red and she squirmed

Oh, she was so cute when she blushed. That did make up for it a bit.

"Chiara you look like a tomato." he laughed

"Wha ..Shut up! Just hurry up and get off."

"Okay, okay." He smiled, getting up and offering his hand.

She took it and he gently pulled her up.

...

"Do you like it?" Florencia asked her friend, feet swinging under the table.

The Japanese girl curtly nodded. But even so the Italian's smile widened.

"Yay! I knew you would."

Sakura looked up at Florencia, taking in her features. Her light curly hair was up in its usual ponytail. She was smiling, another thing that was not unusual for her. Florencia was always so peppy. Her innocent and positive nature was rather nice to be around. Florencia's eyes slowly opened to reveal her brown eyes.

"Hm?" She hummed coaxing her head to the side

"N- nothing," Sakura blushed looking down at the gelato in her pale hands.

"Okay!" And the Japanese girl received a broad grin.

"I just..." She stopped herself to think.

They were friends. Thought the Italian was always rather affectionate. Sometimes too much for Sakura's comfort. Florencia was always okay with hugging and even giving small kisses on the cheek. And Florencia was rather flirty as well. But still they were friends, right? Just friends.

"Just what? Come on you can tell me."

"Why just the two of us?" She couldn't hardly look into Florencia's eyes.

The emotion in her eyes changed but she kept that smile. The tan hands reached to hold the others but she pulled her hands away. Florencia's smile faltered as she looked up at her friend, slowly pulling her hands back, her legs stopped swinging.

"I like it when it's just the two of us." She said pushing her bangs back to have them fall right back in place. Her brown eyes looked elsewhere.

She was hurt.

...

"Florencia," her grandfather, Romulus, exclaimed happily as his granddaughter finally returned home. She had arrived much later than usual without telling him that she would.

Florencia said nothing in response, her face no longer held its usual cheerfulness. She went right upstairs to her room, slamming the door behind her.

He quietly went upstairs and knocked on Florencia's door. He was only met with silence.

"Florencia it's grandpa." He said softly

Still nothing.

"Can I come in?"

"No..."

He sighed.

"Oh, Florencia's home."

He turned to see his other granddaughter who had come home much earlier than Florencia had. Chiara had come home in a much better room than Florencia.

"She seems upset." He pouted at her

Chiara looked at the door before walking up and knocking on it.

"It's me, I'm coming in." She said before opening the door and promptly shutting it behind her.

...

A pillow was swiftly thrown at Chiara as soon as she entered the room.

"What the hell?" She demanded crossing her arms.

Well what the fuck was with her?

"You always get mad at me when I enter your room without your permission." Florencia said, sitting up on the bed. She had let her hair down.

Chiara picked up the pillow as she walked over and sat on the bed. She noticed the picture on her night stand with her, Ludwig and Sakura and suddenly remembered her little gelato date with Sakura.

"Hug therapy time." Chiara reached her arms around her sister, pulling her into a hug. Florencia had often done this to her.

Florencia didn't move in her grip. Chiara ran her fingers through the other girls hair.

"You don't have to tell me about it, if you don't want to." She said softly.

Florencia slowly hugged back and Chiara could hear her sniffling.

Honestly why did it hurt her so much?

After they finished the gelato and walked together Sakura recoiled whenever Florencia tried to touch her. Whether it be holding hands or a hug she would abruptly avoid the contact. Each time it tore a bit at Florencia's heart. Then Sakura decided to cut their time together short.

Oh, she knew she liked Sakura more than she should have for a friend. But Florencia couldn't help how she felt. Though she has yet to tell anyone including the few family me ever she had she had known for the longest time that she liked girls. Sakura hadn't rejected her but it honestly felt like it.

...

"Oh my god what is that?" Arthur heard Chiara's voice exclaimed. He looked up from his lunch to the 2nd year. What was she doing here?

She held up her pass to him as if she heard his thoughts. The pass indicated she had a free period and was allowed to come here.

"It's my lunch, why?"

"Where you'd get it? Even the school food isn't that bad." She said looking at his food in horror.

"I made it. Thank you very much." He huffed

She put her backpack down on the table and zipped it open and took out a pink lunch box.

"Here." She held it out to him.

"Huh?"

"Take it." She put it down in front of the older male and took his lunch away from him. "I have lunch money."

"No, no I can't..."

"I'm seriously not going to let you eat your own lunch. It obviously can't be good for you. Eat real food." With that she promptly threw out the lunch he had made.

"Uh...thank you..." He said softly, slowly he opened up the pink lunchbox and took a bite from the food. "Oh wow this is amazing."

"Of course it is. I made it." She said

Arthur froze. She made this? Why had she given him her homemade lunch? That's something a girlfriend did for her boyfriend in TV shows and things of that nature.

"I'll take my lunchbox back after the periods over. I just can't stand to see someone eat whatever that was supposed to be." She walked past.

Arthur turned and watched her sit with Antonio and Francis. Antonio was giving him a dark and dirty look. He didn't avert his gaze as he asked Chiara something. Chiara followed his gaze and waved her hand dismissively, saying something that Arthur couldn't hear. They were too far away.

...

Chiara came back to his table a few minutes before the bell rang. He gave the lunchbox back.

"Thought we weren't friends." He teased remember how the girl had eyed him suspiciously days ago.

"Shut up! We're not. I already explained myself." She said blushing furiously as she promptly put her lunchbox back in her bag.

"So you'd do that with anyone."

She scrunched up her nose. "No."

"So then what does that make me?" He bent forward a little bit, looking into her hazel eyes.

She took a step back, her face completely red.

Suddenly a tan and muscular arm wrapped around her shoulder. Antonio pressed Chiara to himself.

"Ah, Chiara's cooking is the best. I love having it when I'm invited over for dinner."

Arthur frowned and could see the dark look in Antonio's eyes despite the bright grin on his face.

"Antonio shut up..." The girl said softly

"Ah, Chiara I'm complimenting you."

She pulled away from Antonio's grip, glancing at Arthur before looking down at the ground.

"More like you're annoying her." Arthur said crossing his arms.

The bell rang.

"I'm going." She said and sped away.

Francis came behind Antonio and gently pushed him away from Arthur, he must've thought they would fight again. Well Arthur couldn't blame him. They probably would have.

...

"Why do you act that way around Arthur?" Chiara asked him after school was over.

She and the trio had stayed around however. They were sitting on floor of an empty classroom on the top floor. Chiara was standing however.

"Why'd you give him your lunch?" Antonio pouted

"What does it matter if I give him my lunch?Why do you care?" She crossed her arms

"But Chi..." He whined childishly

She huffed in annoyance.

"Just kiss and makeup already." Francis said

Gilbert smirked at his blonde friends remark.

"Shut up." Chiara said, her cheeks already turning pink. "What are you guys up to anyways?" She said walking over to the two.

"Water balloons," was Gilbert's simple response.

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it. Just do your part when we set it up."

"Alright..." She said, squatting down.

...

That was odd. Why was Arthur hearing the violin? There was no orchestra concert today. Even if there was it was only one violin, alone. The sound was so beautiful. He wondered who could be the source of the beautiful tune. He slowly followed the sound.

There was a large crowd around Chiara, who was the center, skillfully playing her violin. Arthur watched her in amazement. He was much too caught up in her, and the beautiful sound she created. Even so he still noticed her idiot friends running down the stairwell with their hands full. She was just their distraction. He looked back down at Chiara who had her eyes on him. He couldn't move. He just couldn't bring himself too. Not with their eyes locked like that. Arthur heard Yao's shouting. Well now he didn't even have to chase after those goons.

However he did have to get Chiara. Sure she was amazing at playing the violin but it was still a disturbance. Plus she was aiding them. Arthur forced himself to push his way through the crowd to the front. Chiara stopped playing as he made his way up and put her violin and bow in its case. She took a step forward to him.

"Come on."

"Huh?"

"Follow me."

"Wait, I don't just get a detention slip?" She sounded concerned.

"Yeah, you will just come with me for a second."

"Okay..."

She followed him to somewhere more private.

"What are they up to now?" he asked crossing his arms

"Oh," She was already fidgeting "I don't know."

"Oh, you don't." It came out much harsher than he had meant for it to.

"I don't know all the details. They never give me the details. Gilbert just told me to make a good distraction."

"Why do you do this stuff for them?"

"I...they're..."

"Are you just going to keep getting yourself into trouble to hold onto your friends?"

"It's not like that..."

He let out an exasperated sigh and silence fell between them. She wasn't looking at him again, just fidgeting about. He sighed writing out her punishment then giving her the detention slip. Both of her hands slowly took it, bringing it up to her face to read.

"Three days? In that basement?" She exclaimed

"You skipped class and caused a public disturbance that caused a crowd of kids to skip as well. I can't punish all the kids." he explained

"But you sure as hell can punish me, huh?"

He nodded at that with a smirk on his face.

"Hey what's with that look on your face." she waved her arm in front of his face as if trying to wipe it off.

He caught her hand.

"What look?" he said with cocking his head to the side, the same smirk on his face

"That one." she stomped her foot before pulling her arm out of his loose grip.

"I'll see you after school."

"You said that last time but you weren't there."

"Were you disappointed?"

"As if!"

"Right." he chuckled before walking off

"That jerk...who does he think he is..." she mumbled to no one in particular.

Chiara looked at her arm, where he had touched her. She could feel her cheeks turning pink as she thought about that playful smirk. Ugh!

...

"They split up so I couldn't catch them."Yao explained to Arthur "Do you know what they're up to."

They were in their room. The one specifically for the disciplinary committee members to meet up in.

"I don't have any idea. They don't tell her much. So even if she gets caught she can't give much information."

"That's pretty smart." he nodded

"Ms. Wilson would like to know who will be watching over detention this afternoon." Ludwig said as he

"I will!" Arthur and Alfred both exclaimed at the same time. They slowly turned to look at each other.

"How about Kirkland today and then you tomorrow?" Ludwig said as a compromise.

"Guess that's fair." They both grumbled and glanced at each other again.

...

"Huh? You're actually here this time." Is what Arthur heard as soon as he unlocked the basement door.

"Are those guys gonna break you out again?"

"No. Told 'em not to."

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Don't get any ideas." She rolled her eyes "It's just I think the punishment is kinda fair."

"Really?"

"Yeah it doesn't have to do with you at all."

"I never said it did."

"You said it with your eyes." She kicked in his direction

He chuckled.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing."

She huffed.

He couldn't help thinking that she was cute.

"They set it all up today, so tomorrow watch your step."

"Huh?"

"I don't know where they set it up."

"Set what up?"

"That's all the information I know.""

"Why are you telling me anyway?"

"I already told you." The blush was already crawling up her face "So just watch your step tomorrow! That's it." She crossed her arms and averted her gaze.

"Alright, alright."

She glanced over at him.

...

Chiara should be out of the basement by now. Antonio checked the time on his phone. He heard footsteps.

"Chiara!" he exclaimed with a huge grin that quickly faded as he saw who she was talking too.

"Antonio you waited for me again?" she said softly

"Yeah," He smiled again glancing at Arthur.

Chiara followed his gaze however and noticed the obvious dislike on Arthur's face.

"Uh, let's go." she walked over to Antonio but kept her gaze on Arthur.

Antonio nodded and began walking off. Chiara shyly waved good bye before turning around and walking alongside Antonio. Arthur watched them leave together, sighing heavily.

...

"I hope that the water balloons set off on him." Antonio said breaking the silence between them.

Chiara stopped walking. She knew he meant Arthur. "W why?"

Antonio who had kept walking stopped and looked back at her.

"Why do you care?" he tilted his head as if he were innocent

"I -I don't..." She stammered looking back at the school buildings.

"What's with you and him?"

"W -what do you mean? Between me and him? I don't have any sort of relationship with him."

"You know I don't like him." He pouted

"Antonio..." she grumbled and walked past him "I said we don't even have any connections. Why are you being like this?"

"It seems like you two are getting pretty close to me." he continued to pout walking a few steps behind her.

"W- what!?" she could feel her face flushing. She turned around to face him and opened her mouth to say something but heard a small 'meow' that made her stop.

"Huh?"

There was another small meow. Chiara pushed past Antonio, bending down a bit.

"Chiara?"

She slowly walked into the alleyway between two businesses, following the small meows. On the ground was the cute stray cat.

"Ah," Chiara squatted down extending her hands to the scared looking animal. "Come here..." she said sweetly. The cat looked up at her as if contemplating. "Don't be afraid." She motioned for it to come to her. "I won't hurt you." The cat slowly made it's way over.

"It could have something." Antonio said from behind her. He looked at the cat and for some odd reason it reminded him of Arthur. When the cat laid its eyes on Antonio it hissed.

"Huh? Guess he can tell a dumb bastard when he sees one." She gently picked the kitten up into her arms. It appeared to be a scottish fold. It was a mostly white cat with a patch of brown fur over the left side of it's face, the hind of his left leg and tail. Then she looked up at him, giving Antonio a playful smirk as she stood up straight.

"So mean."

"Yeah, yeah..." She said walking past him, out of the alleyway and continuing the path to her home.

"You're going to keep it?"

"Look how skinny and scared he was." she said petting the cat. "I can't leave him there."

Antonio smiled a bit. Chiara was really kind hearted and caring, though she always claimed she didn't care or worry.

The cat nuzzled her happily.

"It seems to like you." Antonio's eyebrows furrowed. It really did seem to look like Arthur in a way.

"Of course."

"Will your grandpa let you keep it?"

"I'm sure he will."

Antonio ran his hand through his curly brown hair.

"I'll have to buy cat food..." she thought out loud

...

"Come on Ludwig. You don't have to do all this extra work so let's all leave together." Florencia put her hand over his. He slowly looked down at her. Their friend Sakura was standing far away by the door frame, her focus was on their touching hands.

"Alright." he sighed

"Yay!"

However there seemed to be a great tension in the air as they walked to the diner. Florencia clung to his arm and was babbling about. While Sakura made no input whatsoever, just looked on at them. Now Sakura wasn't talkative but today her silence seemed rather ominous.

When they sat in the booth at the restaurant all Florencia seemed to do was stare at Sakura instead of look at the menu.

"The weather is nice, don't you think Ludwig?" Sakura said looking out the window.

Ludwig did the same. "Uh, yes I guess you're right." He then looked down at Florencia beside him.

Florencia turned her head to look at him and gave him a big reassuring grin.

"Ah, you know this is really good. You should try it." She said pointing at an item inside his menu

"Okay." He nodded

Ludwig looked between the two. The atmosphere felt so weird. But he didn't want to ask about it. They were both mostly acting the way they normally did but it still felt off.

"I really like it here ya know. We should come more often." Florencia said putting a hand on Ludwig's arm.

Sakura stood up abruptly. They both looked up at her.

"Excuse me, I have to leave." she bowed politely and with that walked off.

Since Ludwig watched her walk away he didn't notice the upset look on Florencia's face.

"Should we go after her?" he asked Florencia.

Her lips stretched into another smile and her eyes were closed like they often were. She shook her head.

"She said that she had to leave. Her parents probably asked her to come home."

Ludwig nodded. That made sense.

"Let's just have fun together then." Florencia said cheerfully

"J-ja okay."

...

Their grandfather had happily agreed to keep the cat, cooing over how cute it was. He quickly went out to buy food and probably a collar too. Chiara sat on the couch, petting her new pet. She would have to figure out a name for him.

"You know that cat looks a lot like Arthur in a way." Florencia commented as she sat down herself and turned on the T.V

"Huh?" Chiara picked it up to look at it's face carefully. She tilted her head a bit. It really did. "Weird..." she said softly more to herself than to her sister.

"What will you name him?"

"I don't know yet." Chiara admitted

...

Gilbert was sitting in the bushes, waiting. He hoped that Elizaveta would set off the trap. Francis said that he must have wanted to get his ass kicked at this. But he wanted to tease her for it. Antonio wanted Arthur to set it off and Francis had agreed with him. Well either of those two would do. He heard light footsteps coming. He peeked through the bushes to see a girl he hadn't seen before. She must have been a 1st or 2nd year. The girls long curly blonde hair was in pigtails. Behind the frame of her glasses were violet eyes. She was wear a red sweater that was big on her that barely revealed the white shorts she had and she also had on black converse. As she came this way, Gilbert pushed her out of the way and into the bushes on the other side. She let out a squeak.

"Wh-what are you..." she began but was cut off.

"Shh..." he put his finger up to his mouth as he crouched down next to her. There were more footsteps coming. The girl looked at him bewildered but nodded slowly.

She looked over at the older male, taking in his features. He was student but his hair was white. His eyes were also a crimson red. He was rather pale but he was muscular so it couldn't be that he was sickly.

A loud squeal pulled her thoughts away from the strange boy. She looked over at the student who was now soaking wet. It was Elizaveta Hedervary a nice but tough third year girl who was in her gym class. The boy stood up and laughed, pointing at Elizaveta.

"Gilbert!" she was pissed. "I'm going to kick your ass!"

"That's if you catch me first." he stuck his tongue out before turning and running.

Elizaveta chased after him.

The girl, Madison slowly stood up from her hiding spot in the bushes, watching the two run around. That was...weird. He had saved her from setting off that little trap but that was because it was meant for someone else.

Well she probably wouldn't meet him again. She brushed her bangs away from her eyes and continued to go back to her lunch table, outside.

...

"Arturo I'm back." Chiara cooed at her new pet. The cat quickly came over to her and rubbed itself against her legs. She smiled brightly and bent down to pick him up.

"Arturo?"

"Huh?" Chiara turned to look at her sister with the cat in her arms.

"You're naming it after Arthur Kirkland?" Florencia tilted her head.

Chiara froze. She hadn't even realized she had called the cat Arturo.

"N no. Why would you even assume I'd name my cat after that guy?"

"I said that cat looked like him just yesterday and you agreed."

"Yeah but that d- doesn't mean..."

"Then why Arturo?"

"I- I...don't know."

"Alright."

Was that a smirk on her sister's face? Dammit!

...

"You're packing a lot for lunch." Her grandpa noted the two lunch boxes that Chiara was putting into her bag.

"Yeah, Emma said she really liked my cooking so..." she didn't look at him

"Aw Chiara..." He hugged her "You're so sweet."

"A-as if. Get off." She squirmed in her grandpa's grip. "You're gonna make me late again."

The man pouted but let go. Florencia had gone to school already. As Chiara ran out of the house, waving good bye he had to wonder why they didn't just go to school together. It made perfect sense. They were leaving from the same place and going to the same place.

...

As Chiara turned the corner on the way to class she saw Arthur talking to some blonde girl. She quickly hid back behind the corner and peeked her head from behind the corner. She had never seen the girl before. She looked like a 1st year. They were too far away. All she could see was their mouths moving. They were coming this way. Oh shit! Casual, just act casual.

"Hi!" She blurted out as they came around the corner. She then cringed at herself. What was she doing!? Chiara ran her hand through her hair, averting her eyes.

"Um...hi." Arthur blinked "This is Madison."

"Oh," Chiara reached over and shook the other girl's hand. "I'm Chiara his..."

They looked at each other and both went "Um..."

"Uh anyways..." She pulled her hand away to look at Arthur before glancing over at Madison.

"Oh, I'll just be waiting over there." Madison said softly with a small smile before walking off a bit.

Chiara focused her gaze on Arthur. "Um...I..."

What was wrong with her? She wasn't scared...er intimidated by Arthur anymore. It had seemed ever since they walked home together that his features had softened up when he looked at her. She bit her lip remember the smirk on his face. There were countless rumors detailing how cold and harsh he was and many students complained about him being annoying. But he didn't seem so bad.

"Yes?" Arthur replied making Chiara snap out of it. She had realized she had just been staring up at him.

"I..." She opened up her backpack taking out the extra food she had packed for him in an extra lunchbox.. "Just here." She shoved it at him. "I gotta get to class."

With that she ran off.

Arthur looked down at the lunchbox she had given him.

"You guys just started dating or something?" A soft voice asked

Arthur looked up at Maddison.

"Wh what? No! What makes you think that?"

"You guys looked at each other when you she was trying to state the relationship between you. Like should she say "girlfriend"? Are you not there yet?" Madison went on and then nodded to the object in his hands "And she's making you lunches. That's cute."

He wished his cousin wasn't so observant and that she didn't watch so many shows.

Dating Chiara? Well she was pretty cute. How could he even think about that for a second when there was Antonio. Even if Arthur had been the one to see the smile on her face it had been because of Antonio not because of him, not for him.

"Arthur?"

"Huh?"

"You are dating her, aren't you?" Madison crossed her arms

"No! I told you it's not like that."

"Whatever. You want to keep it a secret till your official or whatever. I get it." She waved good bye and went on her way to her class.

...

Sakura had some time away from Florencia. Which only made her realize she greatly disliked being without the peppy Italian girl.

"Ah, Florencia are you seeing anyone?"

Sakura turned to see some boy attempting to get with Florencia.

"Oh, Sakura!" She said, running towards her friend as soon as she spotted her.

Sakura was surprised that Florencia didn't hug her.

"I wanted to talk to you." Florencia said and pushed her hair back. "I...if I ever make you feel uncomfortable from touching you then please just tell me. It really hurts my feelings when you just move away."

Sakura nodded. "I'm sorry."

Florencia shook her head, a bright smile on her face. "We're still good friends, right?"

"Friends?" Sakura repeated, feeling her heart sink.

"Yeah, that's what you wanted right?" Florencia opened her eyes to look into Sakura's.

Sakura couldn't bring herself to answer. Is that really what she wanted?


End file.
